Texas native puts Oregon spin on salsa

View full sizeGary Hazelwood, 64, recently started selling his Texas-style salsa in the Portland area after moving to Happy Valley from Texas. Victoria Edwards/The Oregonian

One glance at Gary Hazelwood and his chili pepper print shirt, and you know what he's about.

The native Texan sells salsa. His shirt, covered in red and green peppers and the occasional blossoming flower, makes people passing his set-up in a grocery store feel comfortable, he said. The gentle Texas drawl lets them know the salsa is authentic, and the taste speaks for itself.

Hazelwood recently brought his passion for, as he likes to call it, the country's best-selling condiment, to the Portland area. He moved to Happy Valley in July to be closer to grandchildren who live in the area.

It's the same salsa he's been selling in Texas grocery stores for the past few years, but with a manufacturing plant in Lake Oswego now churning out his four salsas -- among them the signature and award-winning smoky sweet salsa -- Hazelwood is now tailoring his labeling to Oregon.

An outline of the state now graces the label with the signature "made in Oregon" note, as does a mention that it's gluten free. "Texas is known for its salsa and barbecue, and Texans have a lot of pride with that, but Oregonians have a lot of pride, too, so I wanted to make sure I was showing I support Portland and Oregon."

View full sizeA batch of Gary Hazelwood's signature and award-winning smoky sweet salsa comes off the production line at a Lake Oswego food manufacturing plant. The salsa took third in the unique processed salsa category at the 2010 National Fiery Foods and Barbeque Show. Victoria Edwards/The Oregonian

Salsa wasn't always Hazelwood's business, but after losing his job in 2001 as an executive at a construction company the idea started to take root. Despite thriving as a sales director for a health insurance company after that, Hazelwood said he'd always wanted to own his own business. Salsa was the way to do that.

His first batch was produced in 2009. While he hadn't actually sold any of the jars yet, Hazelwood decided to enter it into the competition at the National Fiery Foods and Barbecue show a few months later in Albuquerque, N.M. Up against salsa giants including Pace and dozens more local and national brands, Hazelwood wasn't expecting a prize.

Working off that momentum, Hazelwood cultivated a loyal following at the farmers market in Rockwall, a suburb where he lived outside of Dallas, and eventually persuaded a manager to stock it at the local Kroger-owned store. Today, Hazelwood said, it's sold in a couple hundred Kroger stores in Texas and Louisiana.

Nancy LeClaire, the manager at Morrow Brothers Produce in Happy Valley, said Hazelwood's salsa stands out from other locally made salsa the market carries purely because of its flavors. "They've got a great natural flavor," she said. "With a lot of salsas you might taste one of the vegetables more than the others, like tomato. With his, you can taste all of the different vegetables."

LeClaire said the store practically sells out of the salsa every week or so, with customers often buying two or three jars.

Hazelwood said he'll start selling the salsa at more stores in the coming months.

"I wasn't sure if people in Portland would like Texas-style salsa when I moved here," he said. "So far, it's really been a dream come true."